sun, burn out: moon, shine bright
by Empress of Everything
Summary: A collection of IchiRuki drabbles/ficlets. #5: You promised you'd come back. You promised I'd see you again. Why haven't you come back? I never took you for a liar. {Canon compliant to 686}
1. meet up

_The first of the IchiRuki ideas that's been spawned in my head since that travesty of the final chapter. This was requested by lunaaddictus on Tumblr! My IchiRuki prompts are open, guys! Please don't be afraid to send me a request!_

 _Prompt: Meeting up after a mission_

* * *

"Honestly, you need to watch where you're swinging Zabimaru! You almost took my head off, you moron."

"Moron? _I'm_ the moron? Who decided it was a good idea to fire Getsuga Tensho at the Hollows without looking? You smashed three buildings!"

"May I remind you that _both_ of you smashed buildings? What with Renji's flailing about with Zabimaru and Ichigo's frankly horrific aim and your childish contest of who could kill the most Hollows?"

"Shut up, Uryu!"

"Yeah, no one asked you, Four Eyes."

"Well, the destruction _is_ your fault and Sōtaichō Ise's wrath will fall on your heads, not mine." Uryu smirked slyly, adjusting his glasses as they walked. "Also, Kuchiki Taichō won't be pleased to hear that her darling husband and her best friend are the ones responsible for destroying a good portion of the Rukongai and causing her _massive_ amounts of paperwork."

On the other side of Ichigo, Renji snorted, his hand quickly going to his mouth. Ichigo himself just groaned. He'd momentarily forgotten about the swiftness of Kuchiki Taichō's rage. Uryu continued. "At least _my_ wife won't kick me in the face like _someone_ will in about three, two…"

Ichigo froze. Uryu's smirk had widened and he'd begun counting down.

At the exact moment Uryu said 'one', Ichigo turned his head, only to be met with a sandaled foot to the face. Despite only being 4'8 and half his weight, Rukia easily knocked Ichigo to the ground with the well-honed force of her kick.

Within moments, Rukia was tearing into Ichigo, shouting and waving her arms about, belaboring her husband about the damage he'd wrought. But both Uryu and Renji noticed the smiles on the couples' faces. This was a ritual neither would miss for the world.


	2. faith

_For deathberryprompts prompt a few weeks ago, faith! Also this was so much fun to write. Just Ichigo's progression through the series… I love my strawberry son._

* * *

He took everything she said on faith, in the beginning.

All the nonsense she spouted about monsters, Hollows eating souls, some stupid place called the Soul Society ( _sounds fake but okay_ ), the little slip of a girl in front of him being a powerful fighter….

It seemed like nonsense, would be nonsense to any sensible person. But when had Ichigo Kurosaki ever been sensible? At any point in his entire life? ( _That was a massive exaggeration but semantics._ )

Besides, he'd seen the ghosts. He'd seen the bloodspots they'd left behind. And it'd explain so many phenomenons in his life.

So he trusted Rukia Kuchiki and the whole axis of his world shifted.

* * *

He'd put his faith in Rukia Kuchiki and look where it had landed him. Storming an alien society to rescue her ungrateful stubborn ass. He'd fought through dozens of Shinigami to reach her, people who in other circumstances might've been allies and friends. When he landed on the Sōkyoku and grinned down at her like the fool he was, she hadn't had the same faith in him. Instead, she'd shouted at him, telling him to go home.

This time…

This time he refused. He'd let her be taken away, _failed_ his job as protector before. He wasn't going to let it happen again.

No matter what happened or who he fought, he would protect Rukia Kuchiki.

* * *

The final battle with Aizen left him drained. Not just physically, but spiritually too.

He knew why. He knew what would happen when he used Saigo no Getsuga Tensho, Tensa Zangetsu's final form. He just hadn't expected it to be so….

Painful.

It _hurt_ to let his spiritual powers go. There was a damn good reason, of course, ( _the destruction and subjugation of the world was something to be avoided after all_ ) but that didn't ease the pain of his loss. How was he supposed to protect his friends and family this way?

Powerless.

Drained.

A husk of his former self.

Maybe Rukia had seen the look in his eyes, the look of dawning realization of just _what_ he'd given up to protect them. He'd always had his powers. He might not have always been a Shinigami but he'd always at least been able to see ghosts.

And now even that was stripped away.

Losing his power to protect was unbearable.

Losing Rukia…was unthinkable.

Was it any wonder he fell into despair when she wasn't around?

* * *

In the pouring rain, with a sword blade run through his chest, the rainwater mingling with his cuts and dripping blood, Ichigo smiled.

His faith in Rukia Kuchiki had paid off.


	3. so she dances

_first dance, white moon_

Compared to Zangetsu, Sode no Shirayuki is as tiny and deceptively fragile as Rukia herself. The zanpakutō is pure white from hilt to tip, just like her name describes her. There is a lightness to her build. Like moonlight and driving frost, Rukia's zanpakutō illuminates the world with her beauty. And when she and Rukia work together…

There is nothing in the world Ichigo would rather watch than Rukia fighting. It's a dance, every single one of her movements. A calculated choreography of beauty and destruction wrapped up in one. It is flowing water and dusting snow and frost crystals on a window. All contained within one tiny undead girl.

 _next dance, white ripple_

 _moon fang heaven-piercer_

Held up next to Sode no Shirayuki, Zangetsu looks clunky and primitive. Even for a zanpakutō he is stupidly large. There is nothing graceful or subtle about them. Zangetsu is a hammer of spiritual pressure contained within a physical form. He is the personification of Ichigo's power, after all.

Together, Zangetsu and Ichigo emit raw, destructive power. They slice through flesh and earth, bone and sky, all in one stroke. Sometimes it is the Hollow's power that's used. It is tinged with madness and bloodlust and a joy in destruction, barely reined in by Ichigo's sanity. On the flip side, it can be all Ichigo. The occasions where he doesn't call upon Shiro are rare. The havoc he can wreak on his own is just as terrifying, if not more so, than when both Shinigami and weapon work in tandem.

 _heaven chain slaying moon_

When the Black Sun and the White Moon fight together, the earth trembles from their combined power. They could rend the very fabric of the world if they chose. But like the yin and the yang, they keep the balance between the worlds.

They are one and yet separate. They are the equilibrium.


	4. rumor has it

**A/N:** _I listen to sad music and can't write the sad drabbles. So have a silly one._

* * *

"Let's be real, we all know Kuchiki-taichō could throw Kurosaki-taichō's bitch ass from here to downtown Tokyo."

"Nah, I think she'd be able to throw him from here to Kyoto. She might be tiny but damn does that woman have an arm on her."

One of the Shinigami set his drink down. "I have heard," He said in a carefully steady voice, "That Kuchiki threatened to pitch him off Mount Fuji and throw him to Sapporo. I have it on good authority, too."

"Where, from one of their infamous screaming matches?" Another Shinigami snorted, knocking back another shot of warm sake. He took a moment to refill his glass with hands that were none too steady. "Half of Soul Society knows when those two are fighting. They aren't exactly subtle."

"They aren't exactly subtle about their… _other_ pursuits, either. I've heard Unohana-taichō has had to ban them from the 4th Division exam rooms after Kotetsu-fukutaichō found them. She can't look at either of them with a straight face anymore. I don't blame her, though. The pair of them are shameless," he muttered.

Laughter rippled around the table. The two taichō were notorious for exactly two things in Soul Society: their screaming fights that echoed through the entire Seireitei and getting it on like rabbits any chance they got in the most awkward of places.

There'd been something about them saving the world a few times back when Kurosaki-taichō had still been human, but no one remembered that.

"What's the gossip now, lads?"

"Abarai-fukutaichō!"

The group of gossiping Shinigami tried to leap to their feet but failed miserably halfway through the exercise. One went crashing to the ground, caught in his pants. The other pair managed to get in a mostly upright position leaning against each other. "Uh, sir, we weren't gossiping, not at all, sir. Just, you know, passing the time with a warm drink and news. That's all, sir."

Renji leaned forward and plucked the bottle of sake off the table. Merely shaking his head at the soldiers, he began to walk away. The group started to relax, pulling themselves back together to make the long trek back to their separate barracks when Renji turned back around.

"Actually, Rukia has threatened to throw Ichigo from here to Canada the last time he annoyed her. Have a good night, gents."

They watched Renji saunter off, bottle of sake dangling from one hand.

"So I guess our conclusion is that Kuchiki can throw Kurosaki's bitch ass across the world. Good to know. Let's go home."


	5. liar, liar

**A/N:** _Listen to sad Bleach OSTs, write sad Bleach oneshots. Canon compliant to 686. (I cannot believe I'm writing those words. But oh, the delicious angst...)_

* * *

 _You promised you'd come back._

 _You promised I'd see you again._

 _Why haven't you come back?_

 _I never took you for a liar._

 _Don't make promises you can't keep._

* * *

Twice they make the promise.

Twice it breaks.

Abrupt, like the breaking of a dropped plate. He can only stare at the shards of his life and wonder how it broke beyond repair.

Rukia leaves him standing in front of the family clinic, the same way they met, bereft of his powers. Broken. Grieving. Watching her body slowly fade away hurts more than the loss of his powers. For seventeen months, he drifts through life like the ghosts he once helped.

His powers return the way they came: stabbed through the chest, Rukia's hand on the hilt, driving the blade in deeper.

Years down the line, he wonders if it is a metaphor for his life. She sank into his bones that night he fought Sora and has never, _ever_ let go.

On the darkest nights, he wishes she would put him out of his misery and leave his memories. Maybe then he could sleep again.

The war ends. Time marches on. He waits five years for her to come back. No word from Rukia as the years drift by.

He marries Orihime after they graduate college. Ishida has vanished and, after a few years, Orihime stops looking for him. Just like he stopped looking for Rukia. This isn't a love match. It hasn't been since Ishida entered Orihime's life. They pine for a love that is long since lost to them.

Everything is wrong. Nothing is right. The world has gone sideways, reality and logic fucked since the end of the war. Why else would Ichigo and Orihime share a house and a family?

Ishida returns.

Chad goes back to Mexico.

Tatsuki has left Karakura Town for grad school.

Ichigo graduates med school with flying colors. Orihime and Kazui are so proud of him. His father passes the clinic on and finally retires, from both Shinigami affairs and running the clinic.

And life continues its trudge onward.

Sometimes he wonders if he could love Orihime. Sometimes he wonders if she loves him, after all these years together. Then he sees the way she looks at Ishida and the way Ishida looks at her and he knows.

He used to look at Rukia like that.

 _Heartbreak eyes_ , Tatsuki used to whisper. _For a love that would never come true_.

Maybe Tatsuki couldn't just see ghosts. Maybe she had that rare gift of foresight. The way she looks at him, he wonders.

When Rukia appears on his doorstep,

 _(years, years too late,)_

ten years after leaving him the last time, after the war, Ichigo can't even muster the energy to be angry with her.

He wants to grab her shoulders, scream in her face, demand to know why she left him, sob into her shoulder, scream and scream and scream. Anything to expel the pain burrowed deep in his soul.

Instead, he smiles at her, waving to Renji behind her. They will never be able to slip back into that easy rhythm they had when Ichigo was young. There are too many years etched into his face to just erase them. He can't love Rukia the way he did. Some wounds even time cannot heal.

And maybe that is the real tragedy of this disaster.


End file.
